Remember Marikana: Two years later, nothing has changed

16 August 2014

Note to Editors: This speech was delivered by DA Parliamentary Leader Mmusi Maimane MP, in Marikana, during the second year commemoration of the Marikana Massacre.

Sanibonani,

Dumelang,

Molweni,

It is with great pain in my heart that I stand before you today. Here, we commemorate the loss of the 44 compatriots who were brutally slain by the very same police who pledged to protect them.

We are here to stand together with the wives and children of the 44 South Africans whose struggle for a living wage in the face of immense danger cost them the ultimate price.

Working here in the mines, deep within the ground, these men wrench the ore from the earth. They say goodbye to their wives and children every morning - not knowing whether they will see them to bed at night.

This is not the life you hoped for when you left the Eastern Cape. Twenty years into democracy and the migrant labour system is still alive and well. The overwhelming majority of the miners who lost their lives here in Marikana were from the Eastern Cape. 

With no opportunity for them in the Eastern Cape they are forced to come here to Marikana - a place they most likely never would have heard or seen were it not for the platinum beneath our feet.

In search of opportunity and some economic standing, they leave their families to risk their lives here. Whole families torn apart. But just because it has been happening like this for over 100 years, it does not mean that it is right. 

Yet, after 20 years of ANC rule, nothing's changed.

Nothing's changed in Marikana after 100 years of migrant labour. 

Nothing's changed in Marikana after twenty years of ANC rule.

Nothing's changed in Marikana, two years since our brothers and fathers were killed.

Nothing's changed.

This is not the life that our Constitution promises us. And this does not have to be the life that we leave for our children. How did we get here? How could this happen?

We thought that democracy would bring us so much more. How wrong we were.

With each strike, South Africans hold their breath, waiting anxiously for the tragedy that visited Marikana two years ago to visit their town and their homes. But the same leaders who watched the tragedy unfold here in Marikana have now been re-elected to the Union Buildings. 

They are arrogant in their election victory and refuse to own up to the reasons that led to the massacre here - a broken labour system, a failing and corrupt government, and a government that is unable to deliver economic opportunities.

Two years later, President Zuma, Deputy President Ramaphosa and Minisiter Oliphant have done nothing to ensure that what happened in Marikana will not happen again.

Yet just this past week, we heard Deputy President Ramaphosa say that they have not given our police the training that they need to protect us. They still enact law after law that will only make the situation for workers of Marikana worse.

I say to you beware!

Beware of the false prophets who promise power to the people while power only goes to the politicians and the union bosses. This is an unholy union - the one feeding off the other while the rest of us are forgotten.No, they only need you once every five years.

Beware of employers who have no idea what condition your house looks like. The employers who have no idea what your children's school looks like. The employer who does not care for the lives of its workers. Employers such as this do not deserve your blood, your sweat or your tears.

Two years later, we still seek justice and wait for the outcome of the Farlam Commission. We wait for our leaders to stand up and face the facts of what happened here in Marikana. And then we expect our leaders to take action.

But like the miners who died here in this veld, I say to you, we grow tired of waiting for justice. We grow tired of waiting for change.

South Africa needs to see justice, because peace cannot prevail without justice.

The families of all who lost their lives on this tragic day in 2012, miners, security and police, must all see justice at the soonest time. As long as justice is delayed, justice is being denied.

This is what I and the DA pledge to the people of Marikana today. 

We will see that justice is done and that it is done swiftly. 

We will expose any lies and cover-ups.

And we will ensure that South Africa never forgets what happened here two years ago.

I thank you.

Issued by the DA, August 16 2014

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